Villarreal sink Sporting to boost survival bid
Reuters - Tuesday 01 May 2012, 20:19
Villarreal took a big stride
towards securing their top-flight status when they beat Sporting
Gijon 3-2 in a tense and ill-tempered La Liga relegation battle
on Tuesday to move seven points clear of the drop zone.
The team known as 'Yellow Submarine' after their
canary-coloured shirts had their season wrecked by injuries to
key players but now look safe with two games left to play.
Javier Clemente's Gijon, by contrast, are all-but condemned
to second division football next term as their valiant effort to
avoid the drop ran out of steam at a crucial moment and their
captain Alberto Lora was left sitting on the pitch in tears.
Villarreal have 41 points in 16th, one ahead of 17th-placed
Rayo Vallecano, who play at Real Mallorca on Wednesday. Gijon are 19th on 34 points, level with Real Zaragoza, who
host fifth-placed Levante on Wednesday.
If Rayo avoid defeat in Mallorca Gijon will be down.
Villarreal took the lead when defender Mario sprinted into
the area to turn in a Bruno Soriano centre after 19 minutes at
the Molinon before Lora levelled with a long-range shot six
minutes before half-time.
The home fans' joy was short-lived as Gregory Arnolin
brought down Marco Ruben in the penalty area moments after the
restart and former Spain midfielder Marcos Senna calmly smashed
home the spot-kick.
Villarreal's Hernan Perez was denied by a post in the 53rd
minute but made no mistake with a powerful long-range effort two
minutes later to extend their lead to 3-1.
Alejandro Galvez gave the home side some hope when he made
it 3-2 with five minutes remaining and as the tension mounted
and tempers frayed, Gijon coach Clemente was sent from the
bench, the first of a slew of late cards.
Villarreal had their backs to the wall but managed to hold
out through about seven minutes of disrupted added time as
objects rained down on the pitch including a cigarette lighter
and a beer can.
Police officers had to intervene to calm down Villarreal
pair Carlos Marchena, who had been substituted, and Cesar
Sanchez, who was on the bench, on the side of the pitch and the
latter was also sent to the stands.
Leaders Real Madrid, who have a seven-point lead over
second-placed champions Barcelona, can clinch their first title
in four years with a win at Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday.
Jose Mourinho's side will already have sealed the title,
however, if Barca lose at home to Malaga in the earlier kick-off.
Third-placed Valencia are level on 55 points with Malaga and
host Osasuna on Wednesday as they chase the final
automatic Champions League qualifying spot.
Granada moved closer to safety when they won 2-1 at home to
Espanyol on Tuesday thanks to a first half double from Nigerian
forward Odion Ighalo and are 15th on 42 points, while
already-relegated Racing Santander drew 1-1 at mid-table Getafe.